Oakland Raiders: Kolton Miller ahead of expectations in camp?

The Oakland Raiders left many scratching their heads when they took Kolton Miller in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, but the rookie is impressing.

There’s no need to bring in Sherlock Holmes to decipher what likely happened with the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Initially sitting at the No. 10 overall pick, they were likely expecting Mike McGlinchey from Notre Dame to fall to them. However, when he was selected by the 49ers, they had to move on the fly. Thus, they traded down to the 15th pick and stayed with the plan to select an offensive tackle.

Ultimately, that led to the selection of Kolton Miller out of UCLA. Many draft-niks pegged the pick as a reach, despite Miller’s incredible athletic testing. He certainly has upside, but didn’t have the tape from his time with the Bruins that made him look like a first-round pick on the edge of the offensive line.

Having said that, Miller drew solid reviews from the Raiders coaching staff throughout offseason workouts, bolstering hope that he might work out better than expecting. Those reviews have continued to be positive early in training camp.

Following Saturday’s practice at Raiders camp, offensive guard Kelechi Osemele spoke on Miller’s showing thus far as he’s been working as the starting left tackle with Donald Penn on the PUP list (via Raiders.com):

"“Kolton looks real good right now,” Osemele explained. “We still have a lot of work to do, you know? It’s our first time working together, so just knocking the rust off on double teams and stuff like that. Making sure we’re going the right way. You know, just the little things rookies go through. Physically his development, his understanding of our play-calling, the game, our scheme, he’s way ahead of where I would’ve been at this point of training camp my rookie year.”"

Now, it’s worth noting that a veteran leader on the offensive line most likely isn’t going to throw a rookie teammate under the bus. However, if what he says is to be believed, that’s all very good news for the Raiders and Miller.

Certainly the majority of rookies have their growing pains as they head into the NFL. It’s a different game played at a much faster speed than they’re accustomed to in college. What’s more, the blocking schemes and assignments are much more sophisticated and challenging than they’re used to. So to say that Miller is dealing with that isn’t news.

The optimism comes from him seemingly picking these things up well as practices move forward. Again, Miller has the elite size and athletic traits to be special as a tackle. What he lacked in college, though, was the refinement in his technique and discipline. So for a veteran like Osemele to compliment him on how he’s handling that early in training camp is an undeniable positive.

We will certainly see a good deal of Miller in the preseason, not only to get him reps like normal, but even more so with Penn out of action while recovering from injury. And if his teammate is being honest in his assessment, the UCLA product could make those who called him a reach with the No. 15 pick look a bit silly.